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The Modification of Cell Wall Properties by Expression of Recombinant Resilin in Transgenic Plants

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Abstract

Plant tissue is composed of many different types of cells. Plant cells required to withstand mechanical pressure, such as vessel elements and fibers, have a secondary cell wall consisting of polysaccharides and lignin, which strengthen the cell wall structure and stabilize the cell shape. Previous attempts to alter the properties of the cell wall have mainly focused on reducing the amount of lignin or altering its structure in order to ease its extraction from raw woody materials for the pulp and paper and biorefinery industries. In this work, we propose the in vivo modification of the cell wall structure and mechanical properties by the introduction of resilin, an elastic protein that is able to crosslink with lignin monomers during cell wall synthesis. The effects of resilin were studied in transgenic eucalyptus plants. The protein was detected within the cell wall and its expression led to an increase in the elastic modulus of transgenic stems. In addition, transgenic stems displayed a higher yield point and toughness, indicating that they were able to absorb more energy before breaking.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Futuragene Ltd, Rehovot, Israel. The work was performed of the Minerva Center for Bio-hybrid Complex Systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, POB 12, 76100, Rehovot, Israel

    Itan Preis & Oded Shoseyov

  2. Futuragene Ltd, Rehovot, Israel

    Miron Abramson

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  1. Itan Preis
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  2. Miron Abramson
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  3. Oded Shoseyov
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Correspondence to Oded Shoseyov.

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Preis, I., Abramson, M. & Shoseyov, O. The Modification of Cell Wall Properties by Expression of Recombinant Resilin in Transgenic Plants. Mol Biotechnol 60, 310–318 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-018-0074-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-018-0074-7

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